Chapter 131

The couple set the names happily and told Tangtang and Guoguo the next day.

Tangtang and Guoguo asked in puzzlement, “Dad, we have already got names. Why do you give us new names?”

Xu Ran explained, “Those are just your nicknames. Now, you have formal names. I will take the document to the town and register you soon. Daddy says that you haven’t been registered yet.”

He said and felt sad because the children had been unregistered citizens for so many years.

On the other hand, it was quite normal here. Most people here did not get registered until adulthood because if a person got registered, another share of head tax must be paid.

Therefore, many children would not get registered until they turned 15.

The Yamen runners did not run it that strictly, so the farmers could still make a living.

Tangtang and Guoguo heard those were formal names and understood it because they had been told by others that everyone had two names, a nickname used when they were young, and a formal name used when they grew up.

Xu Ran started to bid Tangtang and Guoguo again, “If people ask what your names are in the future, tell them your formal names, remember? If it is someone from our village, you still tell your nicknames, which would be a little more friendly.”

Tangtang and Guoguo nodded and agreed.

After Xu Ran finished talking with Tangtang and Guoguo, he followed them to the mountain and ran for two laps as exercise. Then, he went home for breakfast.

After breakfast, Xu Ran went to Xu An’s and asked him to start preparing for the chess.

Xu An was surprised that Xu Ran said they could make Chinese chess now, “Ran, will anyone buy the chess after it is done? It needs to be dyed and carved, and it takes no less time than making a wheelbarrow.”

Xu Ran said, “Don’t worry about this. I’ve already got an idea. You just need to do it, and then you charge a price for set and I’ll pay you according to the quantity.”

Xu An calculated it roughly, “It’s more troublesome to dye and carve, but it’s faster to do it when we familiarized ourselves with it. It’s done by a few masters who have signed the contract. How about 50 pence a set, Ran?”

Fifty pence was not bad. He could do a lot this month and he would not suffer any loss anyway. Now he got apprentices here, so they could help chopping trees.

Xu Ran thought for a moment and said, “We can’t treat these apprentices too badly. I think we should pay each person 50 pence every month. Anyway, they just work here for months when farming is not busy every year. In busy farming seasons, they just go home to work.”

Xu An nodded in agreement when he thought that chopping trees was tiresome, but he didn’t ask Xu Ran to increase the price.

Xu Ran said himself, “I will pay them all the salaries for the two months of making the chess.”

Xu An pondered for a moment before nodding, “OK..”

After they set the price, Xu Ran and Xu An talked about the size of the chess. They decided to make it in many sizes. What they had made before was in medium size, not small, but it was not convenient to carry. It was best to do something that could be carried easily. For the smaller ones, it would be more expensive. After all, the characters on the small ones were very hard to carve. Fortunately, there were not too many different characters. After they got familiar, it would be easier.

These words were engraved by Xu An in person, which took him great effort and time. The point was that he couldn’t read much. Xu Ran specifically asked him to engrave simplified Chinese characters, and he managed with an effort at Xu Ran’s instruction. Otherwise, Xu Ran wouldn’t have given the game carving of chess to someone else.

Xu Ran left the errand of chess to Xu An, so he just needed to make some time to take a look here every day.

…

When Xu Ran came home, he saw the village head standing outside the door with no intention of entering.

Xu Ran greeted him with a smile, “What brings you by, village head?”

When the village head saw Xu Ran, he stood up and said, “Xu Ran, you should come to the town with me today to settle the issue of tax exemption. In the next few days, Yamen runners will come to collect taxes.”

Xu Ran scratched his head. He did forget about this. They had come here for collecting taxes at about the same time last year!

Even though it was not yet the time to pay taxes, the land was counted in, so it was best to settle this as soon as possible.

Xu Ran said to him, “OK, let’s go now. I’ll go and tell Tongtong first.”

The village head waved his hand and said, “Okay, go. I’ll wait for you here.”

Xu Ran ran into the house and told Liu Tong that he was going to the town to settle the tax exemption. He took the Xiucai certificate and the landbook and title deed of the family. After that, he went to the stable to lead Big Black out and started to set up the cart.

Big Black had been working frequently recently, and basically it went to the town every other day. So, when it was pulled out again, it expressed its dissatisfaction and sneezed at Xu Ran loudly.

Xu Ran gave it a slap. “Be calm. You don’t have to come out when it snows.”

Big Black lowered its head in grievance, and Xu Ran rubbed its head again, comforting it.

After the cart was set up, Xu Ran led Big Black out of the yard. He waited at the front gate until the village head got in, and then they rushed to the town.

When they arrived at Yamen, Xu Ran found that there were actually about ten people in line at the place for tax exemption, old and young. It seemed they had received the news.

Xu Ran waited patiently. It was very troublesome to get a tax exemption. He had to register all the farmlands under his name and record the time of buying one by one.

When it was Xu Ran’s turn, the officer glanced at the time of him buying the last forty mu and couldn’t help taking a second look. The village head stood beside him and said, “Sir, this is the case. This land had been chosen for a long time. However, Xu Ran went for Provincial Examination at that time and didn’t have time to buy it. He was busy after he came back, plus his spouse was pregnant, so he couldn’t come to the town to pay for the title deed. That’s why he is a little late now.”

The village head spoke with caution and he quietly stuffed some silver to the officer, so the officer stopped questioning, and Xu Ran got to avoid more trouble.

After leaving the yamen, Xu Ran immediately returned the silver to the village head and thanked him, “Thank you for your help just now, villiage head.”

The village head waved his hand. “Not at all. I am the village head anyway and I should help you with this.”

“Thank you anyway. It’s noon now, so let’s go for lunch before returning. How about the restaurant I invited you to last time? Let’s go!”

Xu Ran was talking about Mr. Chen’s restaurant, so the village head naturally remembered it. When he heard Xu Ran’s words, the village head clearly recalled something and agreed without hesitation.

Xu Ran and the village chief went to Mr. Chen’s restaurant together. Xu Ran would take away some silver every time he came. It was rare that he would spend money here, so Mr. Chen was very happy.

Xu Ran didn’t know what to order. He just asked the shopkeeper to serve three or four signature dishes except potatoes, which was enough for them.

The chef in Mr. Chen’s restaurant was really good at cooking. In modern times, he would be at least a four-star chef.

Xu Ran also asked a pot of arrack for the village head to let him drink slowly.

They were talking about planting potatoes next year over lunch. It took almost two hours for this meal.

While paying the bill, the shopkeeper secretly asked Xu Ran to send him potatoes. Xu Ran smiled and said, “Rest assured, Mr. Chen. I’ll send them to you tomorrow. There will be good things for you when it’s winter.”

Anyway, Mr. Chen was very happy as long as he heard something good, so he gave Xu Ran a discount on his meal.

They were both very happy.

Xu Ran took a glance and saw a familiar figure in the shop across as he went out, who seemed to be Du Xin pretty much.

As Xu Ran wanted to take a closer look, the man had already entered that cloth shop. Xu Ran couldn’t see the figure again.

He felt that he had misread it. After all, Du Xin had never mentioned that he had any relative here, and it was unlikely that Du Xin had come to see him!

Xu Ran shook his head and felt that he was thinking too much. It was probably another person with a similar figure. After all, he didn’t see his face.

Xu Ran stopped thinking. He quickly caught up with the village head in front and they went home.

Three days later.

Yamen runners struck the gong and went to the village to collect grains.

Xu Ran found that as long as something big happened in this era, the gong would be struck. But he also admitted that it was the best way to inform everyone as fast as possible.

When the yamen runners came to collect grains, they were merciless. Farmers must hand in grains strictly. For families with many people and much land, the days after handing in grains would be harsh, let alone families with many people but little land.

There was a lot of noise, but no one dared disobey or insult the soldiers.

Xu Ran’s house was at the end of the village, and the yamen runners collected grains from the entrance of the village to the end.

The yamen runners saw the Xu Ran’s house and said something with a smile. They didn’t know that Xu Ran was Xiucai. They just speculated that the family must be rich according to the good house, so they could collect more grains, which was good for them.

On the other hand, Xu Ran seemed to have been waiting for this moment, the best time to show himself off.

Xu Ran took out his Xiucai certificate and the tax exemption paper that he had got in the yamen a few days ago. He even smiled and said, “Nice to meet you, sir.”

Although these yamen runners worked for the government, they had no titles, so after knowing that Xu Ran was a Xiucai, they naturally became politer to him.

The head yamen runner looked the two copies of documents, confirmed that they were real and gave them back to Xu Ran, “Sorry to disturb you, lord. You don’t have to pay taxes, and we’re leaving now.”

He then waved his hand to the people behind him, “Let’s go”.

Xu Ran bowed, “Goodbye, sir.”

After the yamen runners left, Xu Ran strolled back to the house.

Fortunately, the villagers were busy weighing their own grains today and no one followed the yamen runners to join in the fun, otherwise Xu Ran would have been envied by many people again.